What famous folk singer once slept in Kewanee?

Wednesday

Jul 24, 2013 at 6:45 AM

On Tuesday, July 23, folk singer Joan Baez and a friend were traveling on Interstate 80 to the Chicago area to perform the next night at the Ravinia Music Festival when their car broke down between Moline and Geneseo. While looking through old Star Couriers for this week’s yesteryears column, I found a story in the Wednesday, July 24, 1963 edition under the headline “Car trouble brings famed singer here.”

Dave Clarke

In about a month we’ll be hearing about the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington — officially called the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom — on Aug. 28, 1963.More than 200,000 demonstrators took part in the march in the nation’s capital and were successful in pressuring the administration of John F. Kennedy to initiate a strong federal civil rights bill in Congress. During the event, Martin Luther King delivered his memorable ‘‘I Have a Dream’’ speech. Several popular singers of the day also performed, including one who had unexpectedly spent the night in the home of a family in Kewanee, Ill. a few weeks earlier.On Tuesday, July 23, folk singer Joan Baez and a friend were traveling on Interstate 80 to the Chicago area to perform the next night at the Ravinia Music Festival when their car broke down between Moline and Geneseo.While looking through old Star Couriers for this week’s yesteryears column, I found a story in the Wednesday, July 24, 1963 edition under the headline “Car trouble brings famed singer here.”I had heard the story/legend about Baez once sleeping here, but didn’t know when or how it happened. It turns out this is the 50th anniversary of that historic visit.According to Barbara Hamm, who was described as “hostess to the famed singer,” her brother, Don, was returning to Kewanee from work in Moline when he discovered Baez and a companion, Kim Chambers, and their disabled car along the Interstate. He brought the girls to the home of his mother, Kewanee High School French teacher Redeene Hamm, at 600 S. Chestnut St. and also towed the car to Kewanee. The women stayed at the Hamm home overnight and left shortly before noon Wednesday for Chicago, according to the account. The story quoted a Chicago Tribune advertisement which termed Baez “a most gifted folk singer.”The car was repaired in Kewanee Wednesday morning and found to have had a broken fan belt. Baez picked up her car at noon and she and her friend continued on their way to the engagement that night near Chicago. We’ve been told that in return for their assistance, she gave several people in Kewanee tickets to the show.Checking online sources, we found that Baez is still performing and recording at 72.She started singing publicly in 1958, at age 17, and got her first recording contract in 1960, so her overnight in Kewanee would have been at the beginning of a very long and successful 30-album career.She is described as a folk singer, songwriter, musician and activist. Familiar hits include “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down,” “Love Is Just a Four-Letter Word,” and a soulfful rendition of the civil rights anthem “We Shall Overcome” which she sang at the Washington march.She also sang several songs with Bob Dylan, another young folk singer with whom she collaborated often in the coming years and with whom she once shared the cover of “Rolling Stone” magazine.She also performed at Woodstock in 1969.When you stop to help a damsel in distress, you never can tell who it might turn out to be.